Hi Zoey,I think the article is too old to be available online.I got it from the library few years ago. Surprisingly enough, in the whole text you cannot find more than in the abstract about cod liver oil and incidence of childhood ALL or AML.Believe me, this important finding is not even in the title and is not expanded/discussed in the text.I might scan it for you and send it by e-mail.Let me knowCiao!

Hello Iko, If you can scan it to me that will be great. If not, I will check with the scientist where I have my web page. He is a research scientist and may be interested in this too. He might be able to get a copy from his university's librarary if you cannot scan it. As soon as I am more informed, it will be possible to contribute more to this discussion. Thanks!Later,Zoey

Hi Iko, In a Las Cruces bookstore today I picked up a copy of a book “Low-Level Radiation,” a subject that interests me. It was written by Ernest j. Sternglass, who for decades has been alerting the world about the dangers of low-level radiation; he taught Radiation Physics at the University of Pittsburg. This book is much about leukemia, changing rates since nuclear testing began. It was published in 1972 and is very well documented. I did a google search on Sternglass which turned up several hundred links, including the press release below. Maybe you are familiar with him? And the Cod Liver Oil Connection:A PubMed search of “cod liver oil” and “radiation” turned up the Shanghai report abstract and three others.A Google search on “radiation sickness” and “cod liver oil” gives about 300 links [not many academic.” At PubMedCentral, there is a wealth of early research on cod liver oil, it was used as a treatment for cancer in the mid 1800s. I hope this is not a repeat for you, but this article is very interesting:The Non-Surgical Cure of Cancer.Nicholson D.Can Med Assoc J. 1937 Jul; 37(1): 76-80.PMCID: 1562281| Summary | Page Browse | PDF-1.1M |

Childhood Cancer in South FloridaStudy Finds Cause in Nuclear Plant Radiation Emissions - Drinking Water Most Likely SourceMiami, Florida - A South Florida Baby Teeth and Cancer Case Study, that was officially released today, finds that infants and children are especially vulnerable to cancer caused by federally-permitted radiation releases from nuclear reactors, such as the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear power plants, located in southeast Florida.The five-year baby teeth study, also known as the "Tooth Fairy Project," found a 37% rise in the average levels of radioactive Strontium-90 (Sr-90) in southeast Florida baby teeth from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. When compared with baby teeth collected from 18 Florida counties, the highest levels of Sr-90 were found in the six southeast Florida counties closest to the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear reactors: Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River.The current rise of radiation levels in baby teeth in Florida and in the U.S. as a whole reverses a long-term downward trend in Sr-90 levels since the 1960s, after President Kennedy banned aboveground testing of nuclear weapons 1963, due to concerns about increasing childhood cancer and leukemia rates from fallout. Radioactive Sr-90 is a known carcinogen, which is only produced by fission reactions in nuclear weapons or reactors. It enters the body along with chemically similar calcium, and is stored in bone and teeth, where it can be measured years later using well-established laboratory techniques. Significantly, the study documented that the average levels of Sr-90 found in the teeth of children diagnosed with cancer were nearly twice as high as those found in the teeth of children without cancer.Dr. Ernest Sternglass, Professor Emeritus of Radiation Physics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School and co-author of the study said that "although radioactive emissions can enter the air, soil and diet, the most significant source of Sr-90 in southeast Florida children's teeth is groundwater, the primary source of southeast Florida's public drinking supply. This is due to the area's high rainfall and shallow aquifer." The study found the highest levels of radioactivity in samples of drinking water found within 20 miles of the Turkey Point (located south of Miami) and St. Lucie (located north of West Palm Beach) nuclear power plants, while levels of radioactivity were significantly lower in water samples further away from the reactors. The rise in Sr-90 levels in both drinking water and baby teeth parallels a 32.5% rise in cancer rates in children under 10 in the southeast Florida counties, which are closest to the nuclear power plants. This compares with a average 10.8% rise in national childhood cancer rates from the early 1980s to the late 1990s.The baby teeth study conclusions are consistent with the recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency admission that children age 2 and younger are 10 times more susceptible than adults to the cancer causing effects of toxic chemicals and radioactivity. According to the National Cancer Institute's SEER Cancer Statistics Review, from early 1970s to late 1990s, U.S. childhood cancer overall has increased by 26%, brain cancer by 50%, leukemia by 45% and bone cancer by 40%."There is now substantial evidence that exposure to federally-permitted radiation releases from nuclear reactors is a significant cause of increasing childhood cancer rates in southeast Florida, as well as a risk factor for cancer in Americans of all ages," said Dr. Jerry Brown, the study's co-author and Founding Professor, Florida International University in Miami. Dr. Brown noted that, "the recent 2003 Recommendations of the European Committee on Radiation Risk found that the world-wide health effects of very low levels of radioactivity have been vastly underestimated."In a Statement on Baby Teeth Study, Samuel Epstein, M.D., wrote, "Given prior evidence of the relationship between childhood cancer and radioactive emissions from 103 aging nuclear power plants in the U.S., and the well established biological risks of radioactive Strontium-90, it is now critical to recognize that radioactive emissions from commercial nuclear power plants pose a grave threat to public health in southeast Florida and throughout the nation." Dr. Epstein is Professor Emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, and Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition.The study was conducted by the Radiation and Public Health Project (RPHP) and funded by the Health Foundation of South Florida. The Radiation and Pubic Health Project is an independent not-for-profit research organization, established by scientists and physicians to investigate the links between environmental radiation, cancer and public health. The Health Foundation of South Florida, a not-for-profit grantmaking foundation, is dedicated to expanding access to affordable, quality health care and providing funding that directly benefits the health and well being of underserved individuals in Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. Since its inception in 1993, the Foundation has awarded more than $42 million in grants and direct program support.Available for Interview at Press Conference- Dr. Ernest Sternglass, Chief Scientist, RPHP; Professor Emeritus, Radiation Physics, University of Pittsburgh Medical School; co-Principal Investigator of the Report. - Dr. Jerry Brown, Research Associate, RPHP; Founding Professor, Florida International University; co-Principal Investigator of the Report. (English and Spanish)- Lilyana and Bill Sager (Lilly), Miami, Florida, daughter diagnosed with cancer submitted tooth to study. Ms. Sanger will discuss why she supports the baby teeth study, her reactions to findings, and her concerns over increasing cancer in the Cutler Ridge area of South Miami-Dade County (English and Spanish)- Lee Klein, CEO, Children's Cancer Caring Center, founder of organization that provides free medical care to needy families of children with cancer in South Florida and throughout Latin America. - Steven Marcus, President and CEO, and Peter Wood, Chief Program Officer, Health Foundation of South Florida, an independent not for profit organization benefiting community healthcare and education. The Health Foundation funded the South Florida Baby Teeth and Cancer Case Study. - Barbara Garrett, Senior Vice President, Applica Inc., a Miami Lakes-company that has supported the national baby teeth study.

Available for interviews by phone:- Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health and Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition. Dr. Epstein has reviewed the Research Report and provided a written Statement on Baby Teeth Study- Dr. Hari Sharma, President, Radiological and Environmental Measurement Systems, Waterloo, Canada. Dr. Sharma is an international expert in radiological measurements and manages the independent lab that tests the baby teeth.- Debi Santoro, mother who's infant has nerve cancer and who has submitted tooth to study and had her water tested.- Audra Malone-Schmidt, mother of child with cancer who submitted tooth to study.- Dava Michaelson, mother and breast cancer survivor, who has submitted daughter's tooth to the study.

Thank you Zoey for the 1937 paper!http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/picrender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&blobtype=pdf&artid=1562281.I like 'historical' reports and I ignore most of them, I'm sorry about that.I'm pretty sure that CLO wouldn't work alone as a treatment...as I am aware that it had probably been tested in unfortunate patients when nothing else was available.The point in childhood leukemia and cod liver oil is more subtle: it could help as a nutritional support the minority of patients that do badly with standard treatments . After initial chemo, the bad cells totally disappear (remission) and patients become 'normal kids' again, suffering only from the toxicity of the following therapy (reinduction and maintenance). There should be enough time - over one year - to benefit from the protective effect found in normal children in the Shanghai report.It is a hope supported by weak epidemiological evidence.

I do not follow much the radiation-leukemia connection. I tend to stay more on the other side, where disease is already started and talking of prevention is a bit useless...

I know that when we had Chernobyl fallout (my wife took a walk in the rain with our 2yrs old kid) my second son was an embryo of few weeks...but we had no increase of leukemia cases related to that event in the whole Europe, as far as I know.

He had a mycoplasma infection when he got sick, and certainly that was the last infectious 'hit', according to Mel Greaves's theory (by the way, why didn't he get a Nobel Prize yet?)

Hello Iko, I find it useful to get a historical context on a subject that catches my interest. It helps me understand it, and think about it with a sense of how the perception has changed over time. These early studies on radiation exposure found there was a timeline for the increase in leukemia to appear, an average number of years. Initially, the studies were refuted, but later validated. When we consider how widespread radiation exposure is, we may also want to consider more subtle effects than that of leukemia. Also, do you think a child's level of vitamins A and D would affect the tendency to develop leukemia? If so, would children living in areas where deficiency in these nutrients are common might have a higher incidence of developing the disease?Getting back onto the subject of treatment, what other nutritional factors do you think would work along with cod liver oil to overcome the negative effects of treatment?

Hi Zoey,we're making an hypertopic here...It's nice to quit my monologue for a change!

quote:...Also, do you think a child's level of vitamins A and D would affect the tendency to develop leukemia? If so, would children living in areas where deficiency in these nutrients are common might have a higher incidence of developing the disease?Getting back onto the subject of treatment, what other nutritional factors do you think would work along with cod liver oil to overcome the negative effects of treatment?Zoey

If we consider a multifactorial etiology in a fortunately rare disease, vitamin D and A+omega-3 may play a minor role together with all the rest. Other factors interacting make quite difficult to catch a significant difference.

In underdeveloped countries leukemias are less represented compared to lymphomas. Urban (and wealthy?) people seem to be more exposed.We may expect that a malnourished child, affected by multiple deficiencies could die from infection way before developing a leukemia (Hypothesis!). If you search for a connection with lower vitamin D levels...well in USA coloured children have a slightly higher incidence of this disease. This is just speculating...vitamin D levels should be tested more extensively after the Mansoura study in Egypt.In my opinion, this would be the only way to estabilish a connection.

Other nutritional factors -mainly antioxidants- may help to overcome the negative effects of treatment.

It was summer then, and we had tons of squeezed icy lemon juice and fresh garlic bread from time to time (pure empirism)...

There are some studies about eating more healthy food and avoiding some toxic effect...

quote:

Low antioxidant vitamin intakes are associated with increases in adverse effects of chemotherapy in children witn acute lymphoblastic leukemia

...Chemotherapy leads to an increase in reactive oxygen species, which stresses the antioxidant defense system. Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia rarely are overtly malnourished, which makes this population ideal for an investigation of the relations between dietary antioxidant consumption, plasma antioxidant concentrations, and chemotherapy-induced toxicity. ...a 6-mo observational study of 103 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Plasma micronutrient concentrations, dietary intakes, and incidence of side effects of chemotherapy were ascertained at diagnosis and after 3 and 6 mo of therapy...

Conclusion: A large percentage of children undergoing treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia have inadequate intakes of antioxidants and vitamin A. Lower intakes of antioxidants are associated with increases in the adverse side effects of chemotherapyKennedy D et al. Am J Clin Nutr 2004;79:1029-36.

As if undergoing chemotherapy isn't trying enough, kids with the most common form of childhood leukemia receiving this treatment may also experience a significant reduction in their antioxidant and micronutrient levels. This decrease could lead to severe side effects from the chemotherapy. However, there may be a ray of hope amidst this dark cloud. According to a study, children could improve antioxidant and micronutrient levels and prevent some of the adverse side effects of chemotherapy by simply incorporating more fruits and vegetables into their diets. The study, prompted by parental concern regarding children's safety in taking antioxidant supplements (such supplements might affect the high cure rate experienced with leukemia), involved more than 100 recently diagnosed children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The children had their antioxidant levels, antioxidant capacity and oxidative damage measured during their first six months of chemotherapy treatment.

Findings

Blood levels of vitamin E decreased over time, while vitamin A and total carotenoids increased Vitamin C and oxidative damage increased within the first few months and declined by the sixth month. Antioxidant levels were associated with side effects of the treatment; antioxidant capacity decreased throughout the course of the study Children with higher concentrations of vitamins A, E and total carotenoids experienced fewer poor outcomes (such as infections and toxicity) Based on the findings, researchers emphasized the importance of eating more fruits and vegetables -- which may provide a more balanced mix of antioxidants -- in addition to working with a nutritionist to improve the child's diet.Forbes.com December 27, 2004. Cancerpage.com December 27, 2004

Dr. Mercola's Comment:It is no surprise that kids can better withstand the toll of chemotherapy by eating a diet full of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables. However, one needs to be VERY careful about using any product, even natural ones, as the ONLY approach to treating a complex illness like cancer, as it is likely to be counterproductive. For this reason, I have pulled together a list of alternatives to fight cancer.Healthy Alternatives to Fight Cancer1. Avoid sugar, as it is the primary fuel for most cancers.Eating too much sugar and too many grains -- which are converted to sugar in the body -- will cause your blood sugar levels to rise. If your blood sugar levels remain elevated, even mildly, over a period of time, your risk of developing cancer increases.Since I am fully aware that many people struggle with this sugar/grain restriction, I highly recommend using the energy psychology tool Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) to successfully treat stresses, including food cravings such as those related to sugar and grains.

2. Optimize your vitamin D levels, as it is probably the single most important vitamin in preventing and treating cancers.

The safest way to maintain healthy vitamin D levels is through sun exposure, but many of us are not able to do that in the winter, and some of us also stay indoors in the summer. For those that don't obtain enough sun exposure, taking a high-quality cod liver oil is a reasonable alternative. Taking a high-quality cod liver oil is more important than any supplement you can take because it is not a supplement at all -- it is an essential food...

NOTE: It important to have your vitamin D levels checked, as it is possible to overdose on vitamin D.

Sunlight, which causes us to produce vitamin D, can also help lower the risk of many cancers. Sunlight might actually be helpful in treating cancers directly through some, as yet, unidentified mechanism. One of my favorite books from last year, The Healing Sun Tom place link, provides some further details about this approach.3. Make sure you exercise, as this will help lower your insulin levels.There is no shortage of literature documenting the major benefits exercise has in lowering the risk of cancer and improving cancer once it is diagnosed. One of the major ways exercise works is by reducing insulin levels. It is quite clear that elevated insulin levels are associated with an increased risk of cancer.When using exercise as a drug it will be important to have a goal of at least one hour per day, every day if you have high insulin levels or signs of them, such as:High blood pressure High cholesterol Overweight Diabetes Obviously, depending on one's current condition, one needs to work slowly up to this level. My experience is that weight-bearing exercises, such as walking, jogging, running and elliptical machines, are better than cycling and swimming. If you are already in shape then you can limit your workouts to 45 minutes three or four times per week. However, if you are already in shape; then it is likely you won't have cancer, as many studies show that people who exercise have far less cancer rates...Dr. Joseph Mercola

Thanks for the address Zoey!I just sent an e-mail to carolann@columbia.edu...another copy of the Shanghai report is flying over the Ocean...ikod

quote:...Every summer, thousands of barrels of cod liver oil were transported on cargo vessels, the so-called "jekt"s, from Lofoten to Bergen and further on to Europe.Fish, liver and roes, cooked together and referred to as "mølje", have always been an important and healthy part of the coastal people’s diet. Vitamins A and D and the Omega 3 unsaturated fatty acids in the cod liver oil, helped keep people healthy.It was often said that the cod liver oil makers and other people that took a lot of cod liver oil were seemingly never ill.Medicinal Cod Liver OilPharmacist Peter Møller wanted to introduce more people to the healthy effects of cod liver oil. In 1854, he built a lined cauldron, filled the space between the cauldron and its lining with water, and steamboiled the fresh cod livers. In this way he greatly improved the quality of the oil. The invention of medicinal cod liver oil was honoured with awards at many trade fairs in Norway and abroad. Later, the cod liver was steamed in conical oak barrels. In order to extract the last remaining drops of precious cod liver oil, the residue of the liver was then squeezed in a liver press before going to the manufacture of cattle feed or fertiliser.

Today, much of the old production equipment can still be seen in the cod liver oil factory at the Norwegian Fishing Village Museum in Å. Cod liver oil is still produced there in the old fashioned manner, and small bottles of it together with cod liver oil lamps are on sale as mementoes from Lofoten.

I read much of Kurlansky's book several years ago. Interesting! I take my cod liver oil straight. Great about the request for another copy of the Shanghai Report. It will be very interesting to see what comes of it. When searching out information on vitamin D, for an article, I came across one that is lesser known, but may have a place in this discussion. I couldn't include it in my article so didn't keep the information. I will go back and look for it again. Regarding nutritional factors: World Watch published a report in 2000 on the issue of being overfed yet malnourished [http://www.alternet.org/story/274/]. I read that report and it raises some good issues on our assumptions about hunger. We think of malnourishment in terms of money when the cause may be cultural and having the money to buy the less nutritious delicacies. If you look for a connection between vitamin D status and the rate of disease development you may well find the highest rates in areas where there is the least exposure to sunlight. When gathering information on this, nearly every child in numerous major cities around the world had some signs of rickets around 1900. This included, New York, London, Paris, and many other cities. So, it might be of value to see if these areas have the highest rates of leukemia. I would like to know more about how leukemia develops, whether it can be viewed as a type of degenerative process or what. I have a lot of studying to do on this. Guess what! I just did a google search on vitamin D and leukemia and this report turned up:

Excerpt.

A Leader in Leukemia Research and Treatmentby Mark Wright

from Visions, Fall/Winter 2004

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center teams are at the forefront of novel treatment approaches and drug discovery for treatment of leukemia. While doctors once considered leukemia a single disease, a malignancy of the blood cells, today they have identified at least a dozen varieties, allowing for highly targeted treatment approaches......

Featured Article

A Leader in Leukemia Research and Treatmentby Mark Wright

from Visions, Fall/Winter 2004

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center teams are at the forefront of novel treatment approaches and drug discovery for treatment of leukemia. While doctors once considered leukemia a single disease, a malignancy of the blood cells, today they have identified at least a dozen varieties, allowing for highly targeted treatment approaches.

In the 1980s, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center became one of the first in the country to use high-dose cytarabine to treat relapsed leukemia, which contributed to Wake Forest’s becoming a national center for leukemia treatment.

Today more than 80 percent of the acute leukemia patients who come to Wake Forest Baptist are eligible for a clinical trial, many of which start here — facts that put this medical center among the leading leukemia research facilities in the nation.

“Our patients are participating in trials that are started here, in addition to national studies,” explained Bayard L. Powell, M.D., director of the leukemia service. “So when patients come here, they receive cutting-edge therapy.

“Leukemia is certainly one of our areas of focus and always has been, and we are active participants in the leading national trials.”

Powell, section head of hematology and oncology, also serves on the committee of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) that develops national leukemia trials, “so we’re very closely aligned with CALGB for studies for untreated patients.”

He said that Wake Forest Baptist currently has about 15 clinical trials underway in leukemia research, with over half of leukemia patients involved in one or more clinical research studies.

It was hardly more than 50 years ago that leukemia — a malignancy involving the blood cells — was thought to be just one disease. Now, however, hematologists and oncologists know that there are at least a dozen varieties of leukemia. They know that, as is often the case with leukemia, a drug may work very well for one patient but for others with the “same” type of leukemia the drug may not work at all or only marginally well.

If more diseases or subcategories are discovered, “it will look more complicated, but in fact it will become simpler to address, because then you will be able to really talk about a single entity,” said Istvan Molnar, M.D., an assistant professor of hematology-oncology who is experimenting with vitamin D in fighting the preleukemic condition called myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).

Maybe you know this researcher already?--- I will look more into antioxidants also.I hope to post more discussion on disease as a "natural process." If we think of illness in these terms we can allow ourselves to see and explore possibilities for healing we might otherwise exclude from consideration.Regards,Zoey

A comparative study has been performed on the relationship between vitamin E and immunofunction in normal and malignant condition in human and murine systems. Further, the effects of supplemental vitamin E on tumor take, host survival and tumor growth have been studied in a transplantable lymphoma in mice. Vitamin E was assayed in serum samples from normal subjects and from patients with leukemia and lymphoma by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The murine group included Dalton's ascitic lymphoma (DL), Schwartz lymphoblastic leukemia (SVL) and Moloney lymphoblastic leukemia (MVL). Serum vitamin E was found to be lower than that of the normal controls in all cases of leukemia and lymphoma both in human and animal system. The levels of immunoglobulins (IgG and IgM) were found to be higher in mice with leukemia and lymphoma. Supplementary vitamin E administered at the initial phase of development of murine lymphomas reduced the rate of tumor growth, improved host survival and elevated serum vitamin E level. Vitamin E supplementation also activated specific mitogen induced blastogenesis of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) and elevated serum IgG level. IgM remained unaltered and macrophage activity did not seem to be affected. The present findings indicated a low status of vitamin E in tumor bearing host and a beneficial effect of supplemental vitamin E on the host which was mediated by the host immune system.

quote:...If more diseases or subcategories are discovered, “it will look more complicated, but in fact it will become simpler to address, because then you will be able to really talk about a single entity,” said Istvan Molnar, M.D., an assistant professor of hematology-oncology who is experimenting with vitamin D in fighting the preleukemic condition called myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).from ZoeyDifferent subtypes of ALL and AML had been recognized over the years, by morphology (microscope) staining slides of bone marrow or peripheral blood over 100yrs ago, then cytochemistry to spot enzymes in different cells, then targeting specific membrane proteins by monoclonal antibodies.Today DNA technology allows a further study of altered genes (when present), extremely precise compared to the chromosome map of the old days.The complexity of these molecular characteristics and defects in the leukemic cells of different subtypes is not the aim of this topic. Even working quite close to this area of investigation, I am not in a position to discuss it properly.

As you perfectly know by now, I am stressing just one point:

-The real cause of a disease is still practically unknown.-Highly toxic treatment cannot resolve it properly (>95% should be cured).-A protective effect by a common inexpensive nutrient has been serendipitously found in 1988.-All patients concerned should be informed as soon as possible.-Some of them will take the nutrient for enough time to allow all the statistical calculations needed to eventually prove a benefit.

-The efficacy of our standard treatment protocols won't be altered:it represents the best chance of survival these patients can be offered today.A very high price in terms of years of investigation and human suffering has been payed for that.

Vitamin E is a sort of 'orphan' in this field: a real clinical disease deriving from its deficiency is still a matter of debate. I wouldn't go for it...especially now.

Vitamin D in pre-leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes has been used since the '80s with satisfactory results. It could be one of the main pieces in this puzzle.

But we should stick to the natural mix, even if it's impossible to get a satisfactory standard product like with synthetic drugs.We could pay a high price for not doing it: remember the Vitamin A and cancer issue.So it should be up to patients only to decide whether or not trying this path.Clinicians are not in a position to recommend it, for many reasons I can understand.

Unfortunately I have been unable to evoke any interest about this CLO topic so far.I already know the skeptical reaction of collegues of mine that I had been friend with for years, so I can easily imagine angry and endless discussions with part of the scientific community.

In this context my position is definitively on the parents/patients' side.

"autoquote":Today's patients and children's parents cannot afford to wait for a scientific confirmation, they need more hope and a little help right NOW.ikod

Zoey, thank you so much for helping me to examine this subject in depth and burn my english dictionary!

Cod-liver oil lamps are manufactured in the old museum forge, along the lines of the old Nordic cod-liver oil lamps and those found in Nordland from the mid 1800's. The Nordic lamps hang from a wire (or a long hook) attached to the hook on the lamp itself. The Nordland lamps have three wick grooves and require more cod-liver oil than the other type. They can be either be hung up on the wall, or placed on the table.The cod-liver oil is poured into the upper tray. The slope of the tray can be adjusted by moving the hook along the rail or by placing a suitable object between the table and the lamp. The wick is placed in the tray with the one end in the groove at the front, and can now be lit.

At which point we have "ignited a flame for our ancestors". They did their daily chores in the faint light of these lamps, during the long autumn and winter evenings, for thousands of years.

The flame can be adjusted by pushing or pulling the end of the wick with a stick. If the end of the wick is kept short, the lamp will not smoke or smell. Any cod-liver oil that drips down into the lower tray can be poured back by unhooking the tray."...ancient flames to enlight the mistery of leukemia in the new Century..."